Should I seperate my quail?

[PAquailMAN]

Hi. I was wondering if I should separate my quail to decrease stress and decrease wait time for first eggs? I have 26 quail in a pen together. about 8 are male and the rest female. it has been 12 weeks and still no eggs and I was wondering if it is to stressful for them. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

ps. the pen is an old greenhouse and the space is sectioned of to about 5ft x 5ft.

 

[GrandmaBird]

what type of quail?

 

[COsteveo]

That should be enough space. Do you have enough light on them?

 

[PAquailMAN]

they are jumbo brown coturnix. i live in Pennsylvania and it is getting cold and dark around 5. i just started adding light until 9pm about 4 days ago.

 

[dc3085]

Coturnix should be kept in 1:3-1:7 ratios male:female or you will have a lot of stress and feather picking. In larger spaces (100+ sq ft.) you can run multiple coturnix roosters but in hobbyist sized cages it almost never works out. Quail are very territorial and to keep them from fighting you'll want to give them a proper amount of space and a proper social structure. With gamebirds of any time space will directly relate to happiness.

Also your birds aren't laying because they need 14-16 hours of full spectrum light per day to trick them into thinking its the proper time of year to lay. If you put them lights on them to make them lay they will die sooner than otherwise. Forced production shortens lifespans.